Health Canada warns that infant self-feeding devices available on Walmart.ca Marketplace pose choking and aspiration hazards

Issue

Infant self-feeding devices are banned in Canada. These devices allow an infant to either hold the bottle and feed before developing the needed muscles to do this independently, or the bottles are situated in a way that makes it difficult for the infant to stop feeding. As a result, these products pose a choking or aspiration hazard to the infants using them, which can end in illness or death from aspirating the feeding liquid. When feeding, infants regurgitate small amounts of liquid food; therefore, they should be monitored at all times while feeding to ensure the caregiver can intervene if any concerning fluid intake or behaviours appear. Feeding is traditionally interrupted periodically by the caregiver to burp the infant, which cannot be done if direct supervision is not provided. Unattended infant feeding practices are discouraged by Health Canada and Canadian professional medical associations as independent feeding should not be done until the child is ready.

What you should do

• Keep safety in mind when shopping online
• Bringing Consumer Products into Canada